This confidence lasted until Judith appeared,
bearing the simple but savory supper. March observed, with a little
surprise, that she placed the choicest bits before Deerslayer,
and that in the little nameless attentions it was in her power to
bestow, she quite obviously manifested a desire to let it be seen
that she deemed him the honored guest. Accustomed, however, to
the waywardness and coquetry of the beauty, this discovery gave him
little concern, and he ate with an appetite that was in no degree
disturbed by any moral causes. The easily-digested food of the
forests offering the fewest possible obstacles to the gratification
of this great animal indulgence, Deerslayer, notwithstanding the
hearty meal both had taken in the woods, was in no manner behind
his companion in doing justice to the viands.
An hour later the scene had greatly changed. The lake was still
placid and glassy, but the gloom of the hour had succeeded to the
soft twilight of a summer evening, and all within the dark setting
of the woods lay in the quiet repose of night. The forests gave
up no song, or cry, or even murmur, but looked down from the hills
on the lovely basin they encircled, in solemn stillness; and the
only sound that was audible was the regular dip of the sweeps, at
which Hurry and Deerslayer lazily pushed, impelling the ark towards
the castle.
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